Quest for the Potion of Power

Across
the vastness of Videoland, on the magical world of Hyrule, years have passed
since the fall of the evil wizard Ganon, and peace reigned throughout the land.

Children
were playing in the streets. Their parents were idly talking, enjoying the day.
The wind picked up the pink dandelion seeds and danced them everywhere...

Until
one dark day, rumor spread that the evil Ganon would rise again...

"...Ha! Do-HaHa! Do-Ha! Do-Ha! Do-Ha!"

Heads
turned everywhere. The ugly blue faces of moblins sent everyone cascading and
scrambling for the safety of their homes. Mothers scrambled to gather their
children. Windows were slammed shut. Doors closed. Fathers barred the doors.

Gameboy
exited a warp. "Begin exercise maneuvers," Gameboy monotonely said.
He disappeared around the column the warp was in just before Duke came out..
Their antics went unnoticed by the rooms third occupant: Simon Belmont, reading
a magazine (with him kissing a reflection of himself on the cover) entitled
"True Love."

Gameboy
came back around the column, and tagged Duke on the head with a green screen
stretched hand. "Prepare to revert game action." He flew back through
the warp, followed by Duke.

Simon
simply flipped to the next page in the magazine.

The
video screen overlooking the long table Simon was sitting at flared to life.
"Hyrule calling the Palace of Power."

Simon
looked up from his magazine at the voice's blond haired owner's static marred
image.

"We're
in need of a hero."

This
was too good a chance for Simon to pass up. He stood, "Simon Belmont,
vampire hunter, at your service, your loveliness. Not only am I tall, blond,
and handsome, I'm quick on the draw..." He let go of his magazine and
pulled out his whip. Slashing it into the air, the magazine was quickly nothing
but shreds and a folding silhouette of his head. He then switched from
destroying the magazine to using the whip as a jump rope. "...light on my
feet...yaiiii!"

A
warp had suddenly opened behind Simon, and Duke and Gameboy came barreling out,
sending the vampire hunter flying through the air to land in a potted plant.

"Nothing
we can't handle, Lana," Zelda said with a smile that comes only with years
of friendship. "With a little help from your Captain N."

Pleased
to Dickens, Kevin bowed. "I live to help beautiful princesses."

Crossing
her arms, Lana mocked frowned. "You never bow like that for me."

Kevin
turned and bowed to Lana. "By your leave, your highness."

Lana
lost the frown. She couldn't help but smile at Kevin's sudden chivalry.
"Be off with you, my captain. But be home in time for dinner."

Gameboy
and Duke entered through the door Kevin and Lana had left open. "Program
in place to inspect new environment," Gameboy monotoned.

"Okay,
Gameboy, you can go. Don't blow a microchip," Kevin said with a grin.

"Aru
arf." Duke placed a leg on Kevin's leg.

"Ah,
not this time, fella," Kevin said to Duke. "Somebody has to help Lana
hold down the fort."

"Aru."

Simon
had finally worked his way out of the plant. "Yes, some of us have better
things to do than running off to playing hero."

"Simon,"
Lana pointed to the now mangled flora. "What are you doing in that
plant?"

Smiling
sheepishly like someone caught in the act of something bad, Simon began yanking
the leaves. "Ah- pruning the leaves, of course." He continued yanking
the leaves off.

Lana
turned and faced Kevin, her face extremely serious. "Kevin, Hyrule is an
exciting world, but it's also dangerous." Her voice seemed to speak from
experience more than rumor or simple book lessons. "Please, be
careful."

"Aren't
I always?" He saluted her.

"This
is awesome! Me, meeting my favorite video hero!"

Ever
hear the phrase 'famous last words'? Well, those were Kevin's, so to speak.

Stepping
up to North Castle was nothing short of a dream for him. Even when he had first
come to Videoland, he wanted to come here. Quite frankly, he hadn't found much
opportunity or excuse to do so... actually, this was his first real chance. But
having just once stepped up to the green capped, green jerkined Hylian was
better than he had ever hoped for.

The
moment they shook hands, it all came crashing down on Kevin. This is him! This
is really Link! Flesh and blood, skin and bones. This is the real guy! With
maybe more than his fair share of awe, Kevin managed to say, "You're a
real video legend where I come from, Link..." but then his eyes caught sight
of something, "Hey- What happened to your leg?"

A
white bandage was securely wrapped around Link's upper left leg. "Aw, it's
nothing," He seemed to take it in stride. "Pulled a muscle dodging
boomerangs. Goes with the territory, you know."

Kevin
nodded. "Yeah." He could certainly understand something like that.

"So,
Captain N, is this the famous zapper I've hear so much about?"

This
means he's wanted to meet me for sometime? This is just a blast! Pride
displayed on his face, Kevin pulled out the orange zapper and twirled it.
"The one and only. But hey- call me Kevin. All my friends do." Kevin
was too happy to keep down his enthusiasm. Even the most blatant hints of his
want for friendship went by unchecked.

"Erm
Hmmmm!" Princess Zelda stood from her seat in the courtyard. "You two
heroes can pat yourselves on the back some other time. We have important
business."

"Link,"
Zelda chided, "you know Ganon's creatures have vowed to get revenge on you
for defeating their master."

"This
is perfect!" Mother Brain sadistically gleamed, looking into the viewer on
the wall. "I couldn't have planned it better myself. Those two idiots of
mine won't have to search for the Potion of Power. Captain Nice-Guy will lead
them right to it." Rubbing her two long tentacles together, Mother Brain
turned back to the viewer, switching the roterswitch on the wall.

King
Hippo and Eggplant Wizard were up to their armpits in swamp water. "Aw,
this is what I get for following your stupid directions. I'm getting water
logged!" Hippo complained to his companion.

Raising
green fingers from the swamp water, Eggplant said (with a frog sitting on his
head). "W-well, so what? Look at my fingers. They're all pickled."

"I
didn't send you fish heads to Hyrule to have a pool party!"

Hippo
and Eggplant looked up. The image of Mother Brain's face appeared before them
over the swamp. "Mother Brain!" they both exclaimed.

"You
were expecting Donkey Kong? Where's my Potion of Power to wake up Ganon?"

Eggplant
spoke. "Well, ah..."

"Nevermind!"
Mother Brain cut off Eggplant. "Just get over to Raru Town and follow
Captain N. Get me that potion or your names are 'Mud'!" Mother Brain's
visage disappeared.

Hippo
and Eggplant continued staring at where Mother Brain's face had been. Their
vision suddenly was interrupted by a large watersnake raising its head.
"YAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" As fast as their feet would take them, they
were out of the swamp.

The
streets were empty. As if the emphasize this, a garbage can blew over, spilling
its contents out onto the street. The spilled papers followed along mindlessly.
The wind blew through, howling and picking up dust.

The
blond woman spun around, almost dropping her armful of clothing, giving a
piercing shriek. "Ahh!"

"Don't
be afraid," Zelda said. "We just need your help finding the Potion of
Power."

Not
recognizing Zelda as the princess, the woman backed off. "Please. I know
nothing." She spun around, dashing off. Her clicking heels vanished around
a corner. Kevin, Link, and Zelda looked at each other, each thinking variations
of Now what? when the woman shrieked again.

Immediately,
they dashed around the corner.

Disguised
as Hylians, King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard followed behind. "There they
go," Hippo said. "C'mon."

The
woman had dropped her armful of clothing and was lying on the ground. Towering
above her was a moblin- special head gear signifying his high rank in the
moblin hierarchy... Scarface. "Tell me what you know, or else-"

The
woman looked up. "I told you, I know nothing."

Scarface
lifted his spear...

"Moblin!
Release the woman!"

He
turned and faced Link, flanked by Zelda, Kevin, and Gameboy. "So-ho! We
meet again, Link. Only this time you'll pay for destroying our master!"

No
kidding, Kevin thought, rather sarcastically.

"Human
life function endangered," Gameboy moved between the prone woman and the
moblins. But just as he did that, Scarface raised a hand, summoning another
four moblins out from hiding.

"Mind
if we even up the odds?" Kevin asked Link.

"Sure,"
Link replied. "Three to five sounds about right."

Terrific!
Kevin thought. A chance to show a real legend the stuff you're made out of.
This is so awesome!

The
first moblin jumped at Zelda.

She
raised her bow, cocked it, and released a golden energy arrow- hitting the
moblin while it was still in mid air.

In
the interest of showing off, Kevin had opted to do acrobatic flips out of
another moblin's way. Awsome! I am good! Another phrase comes to mind: spoke
too soon- or here... thought too soon... Kevin mislanded, falling onto his
back. The moblin's spear came crashing down at a blinding speed. Smacking into
the pavement right next to Kevin's head, the spear was pulled back to strike
again, this time with more accuracy.

The
spear raised, about to come down... it never did. The moblin suddenly reeled
over backwards and blipped out of existence. Behind where the moblin had been,
was Gameboy with his LCD screen stretched into a hand holding a bat. The hand
and weapon retracted into Gameboy's smiling face.

Kevin
smiled took, but the smile vanished quickly. Kevin pulled out his zapper,
nailing the moblin that had come up behind Gameboy. Now he could finally smile.

Link
was still exchanging blows with his moblin. "You look like you could use a
fencing lesson." He jumped over the moblin's spear swing, landing on the
otherside of the moblin. Link's sword flared, destroying the moblin with its
power. "Ha!" He turned and faced the last moblin, as did the other
three. "Ready to try your luck?" Link asked Scarface.

"Oh!"
called the blond woman, catching sight of a dorky looking kid.

"Mother!"
called out a dorky kid standing nearby.

Scarface
rushed over and grabbed the dorky kid. His spear was immediately by the kid's
neck. "Drop your weapon," he didn't add the 'or else' part. He didn't
need to.

Link
and Zelda glanced at each other. Their hands opened, letting their weapons
fall, one with a metallic clunk, the other with a wooden clatter.

Scareface
pointed to Kevin. "C'mon. You too. Drop it."

"Here
you go," Kevin tossed his zapper at Scarface, it landed with a plastic
tumble. Kevin bent down and grabbed a blanket, from the blond woman's dropped
armful of clothing. "Heads up!" He tossed it at Scarface, covering
the moblin from head to ankle.

Scarface
let the dorky kid go, reaching up to get the blanket off himself. "Let me
out of this thing!"

Link
obliged. He dropped to one knee, grabbing his sword, and released a bolt of
energy from the sword at the moblin. The 'tossed' sword (the terminology used
in The Legend of Zelda is "throwing the sword"... in Zelda II it's
called "shooting") smacked into Scarface, obliterating him.

The
blond woman finally got up, off the ground. "Thank you for saving my son,
kind sir." From nearly out of nowhere, she pulled out a parchment and
handed it to Kevin. "Please, take this as a reward. It's a map to an
ancient desert palace." She pointed out a spot on the map. "There
lies the key, that will unlock the Potion of Power you seek."

"Thank
you, ma'am," Kevin said.

Link
moved to his side and stretched a hand out. "Maybe I should take
that." As if he felt he needed clarification, he added. "I know the
terrain better than you do, Kevin."

Alright!
He called me Kevin! "Sure, Link. I'm here to help you." He handed the
map to Link, more than happy to, now that he was starting to see signs of what
may very well be a long lasting friendship.

Unseen
to any in the party, two plumpy people in disguise peered out from around the
corner of a building. One Hippo and one veggie.

The
ferocious winds blew gigantic boulders above their heads, but strangely, next
to no wind was reaching the four travelers in the desert valley. "We're
almost there," Link said. "I can see the palace up ahead."
Rumbling beneath their feet suddenly erupted into a towering Geldarm. The force
of the long antlionish Geldarm's emergence sent Link, Zelda, Kevin, and Gameboy
flying backwards, each landing hard, each spouting some variation of
"Ouch!"

Being
last to land on the hard brown dirt, Kevin whipped out his zapper and blasted
the Geldarm into non-existence.

Getting
up to their collective feet, Link sneered from behind Kevin, "Nice move.
Where did you learn that?"

Two
figures rushed out from behind a boulder. "Let's go," Eggplant said.

A
sudden unexpected gust of wind sent one rock hurtling down at them "Whoa!
A huge rock!" King Hippo exclaimed.

"Take
this!" Eggplant brought his wand up and zapped the approaching boulder. It
didn't stop. But when it did hit them, it wasn't a boulder, it was a tomato of
gigantic proportions. It smacked into Hippo and Eggplant, covering both of them
with vast amounts of instant ketchup.

"I
hate tomatoes," King Hippo said.

The
entrance was dark, and the narrow gorge leading up to in was dusty and
depressing. One statue laid near the entrance. Perhaps it had been an Armos
Knight, but its broken limbs ensured that it wouldn't be coming to life if
touched.

Link
sat down on a rock.

"What
are we stopping for?" Kevin asked. "The game's just getting
exciting."

Link
removed his shield and shrunk it, putting it in his belt pack. "In case
you haven't noticed," he sneered, "this isn't a game."

"H-hey,
I didn't mean anything-"

Link
stood up. "Forget it. Let's go!" The look on his face was practically
wreathing with hate. He walked through the entrance, leaving Kevin starring
after him, wondering what prompted this.

From
the top of the staircase, Link drew his sword, rushing down at the onslaught of
creatures racing at them. With one slash of his sword, they were gone, with
Link plowing right through where they had been. When Kevin and Zelda finally
caught up with him, he was between another two monsters, destroying them with
one slash of his sword...

At
the end of his stroke, a hammer flew at him from the side, knocking his sword
out of his hand. Kevin and Zelda rushed up to his side, he was holding his
right wrist where the hammer had hit it. Kevin smoothly pulled out his zapper,
first getting rid of the hammer, allowing Link to get rid of the hammer's ugly
owner while it was looking at its hands in astonishment over the vanished
hammer.

While
Link sheathed his sword, Zelda leaned over to Kevin. Link turned his head just
in time to see Zelda plant a kiss on Kevin's cheek. Enraged, Link clenched his
hands and grounded his teeth, then stormed away. Kevin went from
inextrordinarily pleased at the kiss to inextrordinarily confused at the
storming.

Kevin
and Zelda had to double time to catch up. Link was waiting for them on a large
round elevator platform.

They
stepped off when the elevator reached the bottom. Suspended above a platform
inside a glass container was a rather large key and an old scroll. "There
it is!" Link exclaimed.

"Golden
key! Golden key!" Gameboy jubileed.

"Look,
that parchment must tell us where to find the Potion of Power." Zelda
glanced at Kevin. "So, how do we get them out of there?"

"Easy,"
Kevin pulled out his zapper. "This table just needs a little
remodeling."

Link
held up a hand, pushing Kevin back. "Save your energy. I'll do it."
With one swipe of the Magical Sword, the glass shattered, sending the key and
the parchment raining to the platform. He bent down, prideful smile, and
gathered up the key and parchment.

RUMBLE...

Link
looked up, trying to identify the source of the rumble.

"Get
back!" Kevin commanded.

No
argument from Link. He stepped back immediately.

The
top of the platform exploded upward in a fury, making room for a second to come
up. On the rising platform was...

"Horsehead!"
Link exclaimed.

"Whinny!
Who dares to steal my Golden Key?" the monster asked.

Zelda
took one step forward. "That key belongs to the kingdom of Hyrule."

"Whinny!
Silence!" Horsehead's Morning Star whipped out, nearly decapitating Zelda,
save for her quick movement. In the same motion, Zelda pulled out her bow and
launched a golden energy arrow at Horsehead, which was absorbed by his armor
and did no damage.

Link
launched himself into the air, sword above his head as Horsehead's Morning Star
passed harmlessly beneath him to where Link had been only moments before.
"Aaaaahhhh!" Not exactly his usual battlecry. Coming down quickly...
Horsehead's arm came up, batting Link away from him.

Kevin
and Zelda gasped almost simultaneously.

"Ooooh!"
Link hit the wall, his sword spun through the air, sticking upright in the
floor much too far away for him to get to.

"Wow,"
Gameboy said when the sword hit.

Horsehead
pointed at Link. "Whinny! You are too puny and weak for Horsehead."

"Oh-"

"Link!"
Zelda cried out.

"Waaaaaaaahhhhhhh!"

Link
managed to push himself up.

"Whinny!
Prepare to meet thy fate, intruder," Horsehead raised his Morning Star,
giving one last sentence to give Link one last look on life.

Link
gasped.

Kevin
gasped.

With
one press of a powerpad button, Kevin was streaming at Link, at faster than
normal speeds. He grabbed Link, knocking him out of the way just moments before
the Morning Star hit the wall behind where Link was standing. With Link now
faceplanted into the floor, Kevin stopped, coming to one knee. "How 'bout
you preparing to eat zapper, Horseface?" Instead of aiming his zapper at
Horsehead, he aimed at the ceiling above the monster. One blast brought a
section of ceiling cascading down on Horsehead.

"Whinny!"
Horsehead blipped out of existence.

Link
finally had enough of pretending to be carpet and picked himself up, rejecting
help from Kevin. "Mnnn..."

Both
Kevin and Zelda moved over to him. "Link, are you all right?"

"Sorry
you had to eat dirt, pard-" Kevin explained, "But I just remembered,
Horsehead's only vulnerable in one spot: On his head." Kevin pointed to
his own head as a graphic demonstration, while giving Link a sheepish grin.

Link
looked away, "Oh, yeah, right... guess I forgot." The look on his
face said he didn't forget, but was just too ashamed to say otherwise.

"Hey,"
Kevin continued. "It could have happened to anybody under that kind of
pressure."

"I
can see why Lana depends on you so much, Kevin," Zelda said.

"Ahhh,
it was nothing any other game master wouldn't do."

Link
frowned. "Yeah. Right." He yanked his sword out of the floor, and
retrieved the parchment he had dropped before he had launched himself at
Horsehead. With sour overtones in his voice, he asked, "Anybody besides me
interested in where this key fits?" Kevin, Zelda, and Gameboy came over
and peered at the parchment. Link read the ancient writing: "The Golden
Key to the Golden Door, leads across the island shore."

"I
got it!" Kevin took the parchment. "It's the Island Palace. I even
know a short cut through a secret tunnel."

Zelda
stepped up to Kevin's side. "I don't know. He's never acted like this
before."

"Hoot!
Hoot!" a scraggly owl called from its perch above the graveyard.

"This
place sure looks a lot creepier in person," Kevin commented.

Link's
head turned. "That sounded like a Moa," His sword whipped out.
"There it is!" A bolt from his sword smashed into a tree, sending it
toppling over. "No! Over there!" Another sword blast sent another
tree falling over. "They're all around us!"

Unseen
by those in the party, King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard minutely raised their
heads from behind the second tree Link decimated. Their sweat soaked brows
speaking volumes of the scare the tree's destruction and the sword's power had
given them.

Kevin
looked at Zelda. "No, Zelda. Link's right." Large floating eyeballs
suddenly appeared. Kevin took aim. "Get ready guys. The name of the game
is Eyeball."

Link
got rid of one, Kevin zapped another. "Initiating defensive game
action," Gameboy said while using his LCD stretched screen baseball bat to
clobber another two Moas.

"Hurry!"
Link took off running, Kevin by his side. "The tunnel entrance is right
around here someplace!"

"My
map from home would sure come in handy about now," Kevin mentioned.

"I
can find the tunnel with my eyes
cloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooosssed!" Link disappeared in one
downward motion. Where he was at was replaced by a gaping hole.
"Aaaaahhh!" Splash! "Ooof.... cough-cough- Pweh! Pweh!
Yaach." Link spat the filthy water out of his mouth, but remained sitting
in it where he had landed.

"Link!"
Zelda called, surprised. She jumped into the hole, followed by Kevin.

"Recommend
future search with open eyes," Gameboy suggested.

After
they had vanished into the hole, King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard moved over to
it, looking down. Hippo half turned the single eyeball next to him, "Whoa.
It sure is dark down there. You wanna go first?"

"Hey,
Blimpo," Eggplant looked at Hippo with his single eye. "I'm over
here."

Hippo
looked at Eggplant, then looked at the other eyeball he had glanced at first...
a Moa. "Waaaaaaaahhhhhh Ahhhhhhhh!!!!" Hippo and Eggplant picked up
heel and ran. "Uh.. I've got a better idea! Let's take a boat!"

Sitting
on a raft in the middle of the water, with the Island Palace in the distance,
both Hippo and Eggplant were rowing. "Hey, Eggbreath," Hippo said to
his companion. "You're sitting the wrong way."

"Uh
uh," Eggplant said. He had been facing the opposite direction from Hippo.
"You are. The island's behind you."

They
walked down one path, coming around the bend, they were confronted with a door.

"If
my memory's on target, if we open that door..." Kevin thought out loud to
himself.

"Request
acknowledged," Gameboy chimed. "Prepare to open door?"

"Gameboy,
no!" Kevin's cry came too late. The door slid open, releasing a bulky
Darknut. The Darknut's club swung wide, smashing into an Armos Knight statue,
guaranteeing that Armos would never come alive. A bottle of magic fell out of
the broken statue.

Link
stepped forward, bringing out his sword, shooting the door's trigger, sending
the door slamming shut. The door bend inwards with each blow from the Darknut,
but refused to give.

Gameboy
drew their attention to the bottle that had fallen from the statue.
"Potential energy source detected."

Kevin
bent to pick it up. "A bottle of magic. Good work." Kevin pocketed
the bottle. "This could come in handy."

Link
looked at Kevin aside. "Who needs magic when you've got brains."

Kevin
could only watch Link walk away, shaking his head. I don't know about him
sometimes. Kevin, Zelda, and Gameboy had to again dash to catch up with Link.
This time, when they did, he was facing a circular door, glowing golden with
its own kind of internal light.

"See?"
Link didn't bother facing them. "I found it. The Golden Door."

"Careful,
Link," Kevin warned. "This could be a trap."

Link
looked over his shoulder at Kevin, disgust dripping in his voice. "Well,
we're not going to find the potion waiting out here. I'm going in." He
stuck the key into the keyhole next to the door. The door's three golden
semicircular slaps slid out of the way. "Huuuu... uhhh?"

The
door opened to reveal a suspended path, weaving between large statues. They
stepped through. "Whoa. These statues are awesome," Kevin commented.
After passing one, an armored man mounted on an armored horse, the man's head
turned to watch them, eyes glowing briefly.

The
Potion of Power hovered above a clawish pedestal. It glittered and glistened solemnly.
"Look, we made it in time," Zelda said. "That must be the Potion
of Power."

Coming
up to it, Kevin and Link looked at each other, "I'll get it," they
both said simultaneously.

"I
am the guardian of the Potion of Power," a voice boomed out.

Kevin
and Link turned around. Standing on the path was the armored man on the armored
horse. "Whoa, that was no statue," Kevin observed. "That's
Ironknuckle."

"And
you almost blew it last time, remember?" Kevin reminded him. The horse
charged. In the time it took Link to bring his shield out and enlarge it on his
arm, Kevin fired (bringing a look of shock from Link). When Kevin's shot
failed, he half turned to Link. "Try knocking him off his horse,"
Kevin suggested.

"I
don't need you to tell me how to handle this, sorehead!" Link bellowed.
Ironknuckle plowed right between Kevin and Link. "Aah!"

"We've
got to stop them.......Aaaaahhhhh!" Zelda was suddenly grabbed and hoisted
into the air by Ironknuckle.

"He's
got Zelda!" Link exclaimed. Link shot his sword, the bolt hit
Ironknuckle's armor, barely missing Zelda, as she hung by her midsection in the
crook of Ironknuckle's arm. Link looked at Kevin, despair clearly written on
his face, "Okay, Kevin. Let's try it your way. This is going to take two
of us." (Link's admission brought a demented smile to Kevin's face.) Link
raised his sword again, this time along with Kevin and his zapper. Their blasts
vaporized the horse, sending both armored man and Princess to the floor.

Zelda
got up and ran back to where Kevin and Link were... and moved behind Kevin.

"This
is going to be a once in a lifetime shot," Kevin said. "So make it
good."

Link
nodded. Zelda cocked her bow. As Ironknuckle raced at them with a long black
sword drawn, Kevin's zapper bolt, Link's sword shot, and Zelda's arrow slammed
into his chest.

Hippo
and Eggplant ran across a span of bridge, which crumbled under their weight.
Kevin, Link, and Zelda stopped running just in time to keep from plummeting
into the gap. "So long, suckers!" King Hippo cheered.

"Oh,
man!" Kevin said.

"Thanks
a bunch, fellas," Eggplant joined in. "We couldn't have done it
without you."

The
four were left on the otherside. Humiliated, Link was looking down at his feet.
"This is my fault. I acted like a jerk 'cause you were such a whiz kid on
my turf."

"Now
we'll never get past Ganon's creatures in time to stop them," Zelda
frowned.

Somebody
had to look on the brightside. "Oh yes we can. We're awesome when we work
together," Kevin offered.

Link
looked at Kevin, smiling his first genuine smile of friendship at Kevin,
"Instead of against each other." (These guys are geniuses, aren't
they?) He was evidently relieved Kevin wasn't going to hold this against him.

Kevin
turned. "Gameboy. Warp to the palace and bring back the N Team."

Inside
Death Mountain's largest chamber, on a dark stone tablet, placed atop a stone
pyramid, laid a cute looking pig surrounded by Hippo, Eggplant, and Mother
Brain. "Give it to me," the pig said in a strangled voice. "Give
me the potion," He held up two cute piggy hands, awaiting the potion.

"Hurry,"
Mother Brain prompted, "and give him the potion."

"Yeah,"
Eggplant said. He lowered the potion closer to the cute pig.

"Give
me the potion."

"No!
Stop!" Zelda's voice rang out from the darkness at the bottom of the
underground stone pyramid.

"Hurry,
do it now," Mother Brain said.

The
potion was handed to awaiting cute pink piggy hands. Its mouth was raised to
cute piggy lips, which spilled and drooled the potion, in a rather cute way.
Almost immediately, the cute pig began growing, changing from cute pink to ugly
barely brown. Pudgy hands elongated into long cruel fingers. The short farm pig
snout pushed out into one that could top a warthog, and was twice as ugly than
one even a warthog could spout. The cute little pig was now quite a good size
bigger, and much uglier.

"Link!"
Ganon called out. "So nice to see you again. And you brought your friends
to my coming out party." Without seeming to do so, Ganon caused the ground
to start violently shaking.

"Oh
no!" cried the heroes, the ones who originally set out on this quest, and
those Gameboy hand fetched.

"If
you're trying to scare me," Simon Belmont began... a crack developed
between his feet and widened... "You're doing a good job!" Debris
started falling, forcing everyone to dodge.

Kevin
pulled out his zapper, Link pulled him back. "Forget your zapper. He's
much too powerful. We're going to have to fight fire with fire."

"I
got ya," Kevin said, pulling out the bottle of magic he had stuck in his
pocket. He opened it and started pouring it on Link's shield. "I don't
know what this does, but I sure hope it works."

"No
one can withstand the power of Ganon," Ganon boasted. "Videoland is
mine!"

"Wait
a minute," Mother Brain protested. "I don't like freelancers. You're
suppose to be working for me."

"Ganon
works for no one," Ganon raised a hand, sending a shockwave that knocked
Mother Brain over on her formaldehyde filled jar side.

Ganon
faced them. Opening his arms, he increased in size, becoming even large, and
more formidable. It did startle the heroes, but still they stood their ground.
"He who dares to defy Ganon will pay the ultimate price!" A bolt of
frightening proportions leapt from Ganon's hands, flying right at Link. The
bolt hit Link's shield... but the repel magic on Link's shield sent it flying
back... the magic on the shield was so strong, Link wasn't even knocked back in
the slightest.

The
bolt hit Ganon. A whirlwind, rather vortex-like formed. It picked Mother Brain,
Eggplant, and Hippo on it's way out through a large crack in the ceiling.
Vanished, only the heroes were left standing in the chamber.

Kevin
looked at Link. "That reflect magic is awesome stuff!"

Link
smiled, "I'll get you some, for your next birthday."

Cheering
arose from the entire group, variations of the classic 'alright!' (Including
one Alrighticus) Zelda jogged up. "You did it! We saved Hyrule, thanks to
you," she kissed Link on the cheek, "and you." She kissed Kevin
on the cheek. "The best team of heroes ever."